Who Was Tantalus? Part Two. © Nicholas Costa 2026

“Aye, and I saw Tantalus in violent torment, standing in a pool, and the water came nigh unto his chin. He seemed as one athirst, but could not take and drink; [585] for as often as that old man stooped down, eager to drink, so often would the water be swallowed up and vanish away, and at his feet the black earth would appear, for some god made all dry. And trees, high and leafy, let stream their fruits above his head, pears, and pomegranates, and apple trees with their bright fruit, [590] and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. But as often as that old man would reach out toward these, to clutch them with his hands, the wind would toss them to the shadowy clouds.” (Homer Od. 11.567)

This is the earliest reference we have to the figure of Tantalus, which at its core can be seen to be a a reference to a tsunami and a high wind generated by an airburst.

Devastating Calamity

That a devastating calamity was associated with the figure of Tantalus is confirmed by many ancient sources including Strabo who states explicitly that, “formerly in the reign of Tantalus there were great earthquakes in Lydia and Ionia as far as the Troad, which swallowed up whole villages and overturned Mount Sipylus; marshes then became lakes, and the city of Troy was covered by the waters.” (Geographica 1. 3.17)

As demonstrated in the previous article Plato’s use of the word Atlantis can be seen as a wordplay upon Talantis, the name given not just to a single city, as is commonly assumed, but to the entire devastated region.

Dione- the Hyad, wife of Tantalus

The name Atlantis can also be interpreted as meaning the daughter of Atlas. Dione (sky) was depicted as the daughter of Atlas and wife of Tantalus (Hyginus, Fabulae, 82 and 83). She was a Hyad. The etymology of the word Hyad is commonly linked to the Ancient Greek verb hyo , “I rain” or“I fall as rain”. She was one of a group sisters who were known as the Hyades, “the rainy ones” or “rain-makers”.

Rain

The significance of this link is demonstrated by a research paper published in 1953 entitled The Influence of Meteoric Dust on Rainfall. Its author E. G.Bowen observed that rainfall peaks often occur about 30 days after major meteor showers or airbursts, which is the estimated time it takes for microscopic dust to drift down into the lower atmosphere. A recent document entitled Dust Accelerates the Life Cycle of High Clouds Unveiled Through Strongly-Constrained Meteorology, 2024 by Jinming Ge confirms that dust particles facilitate ice crystal formation and can increase the precipitation rate under certain conditions.

Thus the name Dione is not just a name chosen at random but a descriptive metaphor relating to the airburst and/or subsequent volcanic eruption.

The Egyptians described heavy rain as the “breath of Seth”. Seth was none other than a metaphor for catastrophic natural events such as eruptions and airbursts. (See: Who was the Egyptian God Seth? Nicholas Costa, 2024). Ancient Egyptian texts from the Ramesside Period (c. 1292–1189 BC) frequently described “harmful water” or torrential rain as the domain of the god Seth.

Flooding in the Valley of the Kings

Near 1327 BCE (the end of the 18th Dynasty), evidence suggests the valley floor was hit by violent thunderstorms. These flash floods deposited meters of debris, burying the entrances to tombs such as KV62 (Tutankhamun), which helped protect them from looters for millennia. Geological core samples show distinct layers of “Debris Flow”—heavy gravel and mud moved by water—dating to the late 18th and early 19th Dynasties. (The Lost Tombs Kent Weeks, 1995; The Geology of the Valley of the Kings, G. H. Curtis, 1979.)

The Stone in the Sky

Modern interpretations of the Tantalus myth stop at the point whereby he was made to stand in a pool of water up to his chin. Whenever he bent down to drink, the water would recede and vanish into the earth. Above his head hung branches laden with ripe fruit. Whenever he reached up to grab one, a gust of wind would blow the branches just out of reach.

Yet there is another element to the narrative that was referred to much more often in antiquity concerning Tantalus and that is a ‘stone’ which hung in the sky above his head.

It is been interpreted many as merely a reference to a boulder on the nearby mountain threatening to fall and create a landslide. However it was evidently something much more sinister.

According to Antoninus Liberalis (late 2nd or early 3rd century BC) , Zeus struck Tantalus with a thunderbolt for perjury and then placed Mount Sipylus on top of him. However a deeper look into the myth reveals a figure named Pandareus.

Liberalis states that ‘Pandareos dwelt in the territories of Ephesus, on the craggy headland next to the city.’(Metamorphoses, §11). This is the same spot that myth of the birth of Artemis focuses on. Thus at its core the story is a reference to the airburst of c1327 BC.

In Liberallis’ version Pandareus is described as a son of Merops the ruler of Cos. Cos significantly is part of the Cos–Yali–Nisyros volcanic field. While the island of Cos is predominantly non-volcanic, it does contain active Miocene to Pleistocene volcanic centers.

Pandareius, and in due course Tantalus, are accused of stealing a golden dog which had been created by Hephaestus. They both denied having it and as a consequence both were punished by Zeus. Pandareus’ punishment was to be turned into stone, whilst Tantalus was struck by a lightning bolt sent by Zeus.

At first sight the implication here perhaps is that the destruction at Ephesus was caused by a stone originating from the volcanic eruption at Yiali. However the distance between the two sites is too great for this to have happened. (See: Maximum horizontal range of volcanic ballistic projectiles ejected during explosive eruptions at Santorini caldera, Konstantinou, K. I. 2015; and In flight fragmentation reduces bomb size range and hazard during explosive volcanic eruptions, C Biensan et al, 2025). This probably explains why the myth remembers Tantalus’ denying that he had possession of the dog created by Hephaestus, since the ‘stone’ that destroyed Ephesus was not volcanic in origin.

Euripides in his play Orestes describes Tantalus as literally hanging in mid-air with a boulder suspended over him, which he fears will fall and crush him.

“For Tantalus, the blest… now he hovers in the air, fearing the rock which hangs over his head… he gave life to Pelops…” (Euripides, Orestes 4–11).

This is evidently a metaphor for the incoming bolide which exploded above Ephesus in c1327 BC as delineated in the Hittite tables of Mursili II.

Tantalus’ Family Etymology

A look at the etymology of the family names presents a telling picture:

Tantalus: The reality is that Tantalus represents both a real king (who appears in the Annals as Uhha-ziti) but more importantly it also acts as a metaphor for the whole region affected by the airburst. The name is traditionally associated with Greek words indicating suffering and endurance, such as talas, wretched and talassai, to endure. The name is believed to derive from a reduplication of the Proto-Indo-European root telh- (“to bear, carry, support”), suggesting the meaning of “the Bearer” or“the Sufferer”.

Pausanias states: “… the grave of him who legend says was son of Zeus and Pluto… is on Mount Sipylus. I know because I saw it.” (Description of Greece 2.22.2–3). This is currently identified as a tholos tomb located on the mountain but according to the myths he has no tomb other than his presence underground in Hades.

The Victims

Broteas: His son’s name relates to the word brotos meaning “mortal” or “human,” When combined with the common masculine suffix -eas, the name translates to “the mortal one” emphasizing his mortal frailty compared to the gods, especially given his tragic, maddened end. It also had a poetic meaning: In archaic and epic Greek (such as in Homer’s Iliad), brotos also referred to the “gore” or “blood flowing from a wound”. Broteas was depicted as throwing himself on a pyre in an act of self immolation because of his refusal to honour Artemis (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, Epitome 2.2) . The name therefore acts as a symbolic metaphor for the tragic and violent fate of the real inhabitants many of whom would have been incinerated by the 1327 BC airburst.

Scholiasts comments to Ovid’s Iblis note two things about Broteas, that he was blinded by Zeus and that he threw himself on a burning pyre. According to another Scholiast he was despised for his ugliness that it so preyed on his mind he preferred death by fire. These allusions are evidently consistent metaphors for the airburst would have left many badly burned, blinded, deformed and severely injured.

Niobe: Artemis played an even more prominent role in the destruction of Tantalus’s daughter, Niobe. In the myth Niobe boasted that she was superior to the goddess Leto (the mother of Artemis and Apollo) because she had fourteen children (seven sons and seven daughters), while Leto had only two. To avenge their mother’s honor, Artemis (the butcher) and Apollo (the destroyer) descended to earth and killed all of Niobe’s children.

The name Niobe has an uncertain, possibly pre-Greek origin, but its meaning was shaped by Greek tragic usage. In Aeschylus and Euripides,ni– regularly appears in raw cries of grief, such as ni- ni uttered in moments of intense mourning (Agamemnon 121; Persians 1054; Euripides, Trojan Women 120). Although the element -obe has no Greek etymology, its voiced consonant and long final vowel resemble the prolonged sounds of lamentation typical of tragic song. Through repeated performance, Greek audiences heard the name Niobe as acoustically mirroring grief itself, even without a literal semantic derivation.

Dascylus: According to a scholium on the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, Dascylus was a son of Tantalus and husband of Anthemoesia. He was depicted as a king who ruled over the Mariandyni in Bythinia or Mysia. The former an ancient district in northwest Anatolia adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea on the west whilst Mysia was a vague inland perimeter which was bounded by the districts of Lydia in the south and Phrygia and Bithynia in the east. His grandson was also called Dascylus acted as a guide to the Argonauts during their quest for the Golden Fleece- itself a metaphorical alusion to the apparition of Halley’s Comet c1266 BC.

Hence he acts as another metaphor for the catastrophe of c1327 BC. The prefix da in Ancient Greek has a root meaning of “Thick, Dense or Shaggy”. It is the basis of the word dasys used to describe thick woods or dense vegetation. The word skylos (and its ancient form skylax) is generally believed to be derived from the verb skyllo, which means “to flay,” “to tear,” “to rend,” or “to mangle”. Thus the name Dascylus would act as a metaphor for destroyed vegetation. This interpretation is supported by his wife’s name of Anthemoesia. Her name is derived from the Greek word “anthemon” meaning “flower”. The suffix -esia (or -ousia) in this context designates a state of being “full of” or “abounding in”.

Anyone doubting the metaphor need only look at photographs of the aftermath of the Tunguska airburst of 1908.The 1908 Tunguska explosion in Siberia was relatively small but it still flattened around 80 million trees over an area of about 2,150 square kilometers, but it left no impact crater. However areas such as Mysia and Bithyna were too distant to be directly affected by the airburst, so damage in those areas (as long as there wasn’t a second bolide fragmenting over those regions) would have likely been caused by wildfires triggered by lightning, which strong winds could spread across tens of kilometers.

Pandareius: As noted, the figure named Pandareus features in Liberalis’ retelling on the myth. He states that ‘Pandareos dwelt in the territories of Ephesus, on the craggy headland next to the city.’(Metamorphoses, §11). This is the same spot that the myth of the birth of Artemis focuses on. In Liberallis’ version Pandareus is described as a son of Merops, ruler of Cos. This is an allusion to the Cos- Yiali-Nisyros volcanic field.

His name can be analyzed as a compound beginning with the Greek prefix “pan-“, meaning “all”. The second element is less certain but probably derives from the word dero “to skin” or“to flay” Thus “the totally Excoriated or Skinned one”, a very apt description for a victim of an airburst.

Harmothoe: His wife’s name can be interpreted as a descriptive metaphor for the event. Harmo refers to bodily joints. Medical writers use harmos to describe the articulation of limbs, where bones meet and allow for movement. Whilst in Greek literature the word thoe functions as a high-energy descriptor for speed, specifically “sharp” this connects to the Greek thopto (to sharpen). This therefore acts as a descriptive metaphor, the instant piercing or destruction of bodily joints.

Pandareius’ Daughters

Early in Book 20 of the Odyssey, Penelope wakes from sleep and in despaair due to the pressure from her suitors and prays to Artemis for death. She wants Artemis either to shoot her with an arrow at once or to send a storm wind that will snatch her up and cast her into sea, just as the storm winds carried off the daughters of Pandareus. Penelope then elaborates on the Pandareids’ story, describing how, after the gods killed their parents, a quartet of Olympian goddesses reared these orphaned sisters, gave them all the qualities of desirable womanhood, and then sought to arrange their marriages until Harpies snatched the maidens away (Odyssey 20.61–78).

The name “harpy” originates from the Ancient Greek word harpayiai (plural) which translates as “snatchers”. This term is derived from the Greek verb harpazo ( meaning to snatch, seize, or carry away, relating directly to the mythological creatures known for carrying away souls. The Harpies were depicted as winged creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a bird, serving as personifications of destructive, sudden storm winds and as agents of divine vengeance for Zeus.

Part Three: Who was Pelops?

Due to popular demand, recently re-published the updated version of Adam to Apophis which reveals new details of the massive airburst above northern Saudi Arabia in the 9th century BC. The focus of the Elijah cycle.